Day: March 3, 2024

West Texas, from the oil rigs of the Permian Basin to the wind turbines twirling above the High Plains, has long been a magnet for companies seeking fortunes in energy.

Now, those arid ranch lands are offering a new moneymaking opportunity: data centers.

Lancium, an energy and data center management firm setting up shop in Fort Stockton and Abilene, is one of many companies around the country betting that building data centers close to generating sites will allow them to tap into underused clean power.

“It’s a land grab,” said Lancium’s president, Ali Fenn.

In the past, companies built data centers close to internet users, to better meet consumer requests, like streaming a show on Netflix or playing a video game hosted in the cloud. But the growth of artificial intelligence requires huge data centers to train the evolving large-language models, making proximity to users less necessary.

But as more of these sites start to pop up across the United States, there are new questions on whether they can meet the demand while still operating sustainably. The carbon footprint from the construction of the centers and the racks of expensive computer equipment is substantial in itself, and their power needs have grown considerably.

Just a decade ago, data centers drew 10 megawatts of power, but 100 megawatts is common today. The Uptime Institute, an industry advisory group, has identified 10 supersize cloud computing campuses across North America with an average size of 621 megawatts.

This growth in electricity demand comes as manufacturing in the United States is the highest in the past half-century, and the power grid is becoming increasingly strained.

The Uptime Institute predicted in a recent report that the sector’s myriad net-zero goals, which are self-imposed benchmarks, would become much harder to meet in the face of this demand and that backtracking could become common.

“This is not just about data centers,” said Mark Dyson, a managing director at RMI, a nonprofit organization focused on sustainability. “Data centers are a practice round for a much bigger wave of load growth that we are already seeing and are going to continue seeing in this country coming from electrification of industry, vehicles and buildings.”

The data center industry has embraced more sustainable solutions in recent years, becoming a significant investor in renewable power at the corporate level. Sites that leased wind and solar capacity jumped 50 percent year over year as of early 2023, to more than 40 gigawatts, capacity that continues to grow. Still, demand outpaces those investments. And the need for more processing power is backing up the interconnection queue and creating stopgap solutions.

Power-hungry data centers in full force further complicate the balance. Data centers in the construction pipeline would, when complete, use as much power annually as the San Francisco metro area, according to a report released on Wednesday by the real estate services company JLL. Most sites coming online this year are already leased; in popular markets, significant space will not open up for at least two years.

“You have to get as many gigawatts live as you possibly can, as fast as you can,” Ms. Fenn of Lancium said. “People are going to cobble that together in whatever way they can.”

That has quickly expanded development beyond the established first- and second-tier markets, such as Northern Virginia, Dallas and Silicon Valley.

Competition is growing in parts of the country offering cheap land and available power. Amazon, for instance, announced last month that it was planning a $10 billion project in Mississippi, the state’s largest economic development project, which includes data centers and solar generating sites.

“Anybody who has any significant source of power has now become a new data center market,” said Jim Kerrigan, managing principal of North American Data Centers, an industry consultancy.

A.I. is only a small percentage of the global data center footprint. The Uptime Institute predicts A.I. will skyrocket to 10 percent of the sector’s global power use by 2025, from 2 percent today.

“They have been building at a breakneck pace with so many other kinds of drivers for demand,” said Andy Lawrence, executive director of research at the institute. “A.I.’s kind of the froth on top.”

Last year, construction of data centers was up 25 percent, according to the real estate firm CBRE. And Nvidia, which supplies most of the high-tech chips powering this technology, last week reported record profit in data center sales, with 2023 revenue hitting $47.5 billion, a 217 percent jump from the year before.

The nation’s energy grids cannot handle that kind of demand, said Christopher Wellise, vice president of sustainability at Equinix, a global data center operator. “Technology is moving faster than our infrastructure has evolved,” he said.

Equinix, which operates 260 data centers across the globe, installed fuel cells from Bloom Energy to help provide backup power to many of its data centers. The company is also reducing emissions by bringing more renewable energy to the grid, such as through power purchase agreements, and has squeezed 5 percent more efficiency out of its operations in the past year, Mr. Wellise said. Design firms like Gensler have been experimenting with new designs that feature mass timber to cut down on the embodied carbon of data centers.

And A.I. itself can help: At a data center in Frankfurt, Equinix has used the technology to moderate cooling loads and adjust energy use in concert with changing weather, making a data center 9 percent more efficient.

Niklas Sundberg, a sustainable IT expert and chief digital officer at Kuehne + Nagel, a transport and logistics company in Sweden, said the industry would need to focus on investing in renewable generating capacity.

Some sites have sought to install on-site gas power plants to make up for shortfalls in the grid. It may be cleaner than existing power, but it adds to the industry’s substantial carbon footprint.

And lawmakers have proposed more transparency and action. The Senate introduced a proposal in early February to assess A.I.’s environmental impact. Lawmakers in Northern Virginia, which is known as Data Center Alley, have pushed to mandate sustainability goals for data centers.

Suhas Subramanyam, a Virginia state senator, proposed a number of rules, including one that would require data centers to get at least 90 percent of their power from renewable sources to qualify for subsidies. “I don’t want to stick my kids in a situation where, in 20 years, they have to pay some of the bills for things that we thought were a good idea and turned out not to be,” he said.

A judge on Friday temporarily blocked the Texas attorney general from forcing an L.G.B.T.Q. organization to turn over documents on transgender minors and the gender-affirming care they may be receiving.

In Texas, medical care for gender transition is prohibited for minors under a law passed last year. As part of an investigation into violations of the ban, the office of Attorney General Ken Paxton demanded early last month that the nonprofit PFLAG National, which supports families in accessing gender-affirming care for children, provide information on minors in the state who may have received such treatments.

But on Friday, Judge Maria Cantú Hexsel of Travis County District Court issued an injunction against Mr. Paxton, just days after PFLAG sued to block the request, saying turning over the documents would cause “irreparable injury, loss or damage” to the group. The judge added that such an ask would infringe on the group’s constitutional rights and that its members would be subject to “gross invasions” of privacy.

In a statement, PFLAG’s lawyers, including the American Civil Liberties Union, said they were “grateful that the court saw the harm the attorney general’s office’s intrusive demands posed.”

Mr. Paxton’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Friday’s order. But he has previously argued that the information from PFLAG is “highly relevant” to his investigation into medical providers who he says are trying to work around the ban on gender-affirming care for minors. “Any organization seeking to violate this law, commit fraud or weaponize science and medicine against children will be held accountable,” he said in a statement.

The judge scheduled a hearing for March 25 to give the attorney general a chance to argue against the injunction.

The ruling comes as legislation on transgender rights continues to be a focus nationwide. Republicans have pushed and passed dozens of laws that aim to restrict these rights, including ones that put limits on bathroom use and sports team participation.

At least 23 states have banned gender-transition care for minors, with Texas being the largest among those. Along with barring minors from getting the treatments, the law in Texas says doctors who provide such care will have their medical licenses revoked, and it bans health insurance plans from covering the treatments.In Texas,there were about 30,000 transgender people aged 13 to 17 between 2017 and 2020, according to a report by the Williams Institute at U.C.L.A.

In recent months, the attorney general has made multiple attempts to obtain transgender patient records as he tries to crack down on people who he suspects may be violating state law. Along with PFLAG, Mr. Paxton probed two children’s hospitals in the state for medical records of patients who received gender-affirming care.

He has also gone beyond state lines for such records. In November, Mr. Paxton sent a subpoena to the Seattle Children’s Hospital, seeking records of patients from Texas who had received the care there. The hospital system sued the attorney general’s office in December, and a judge has yet to rule on that case.

The documents case is not the first time PFLAG has challenged Texas’ attempts to prevent gender-affirming care for transgender youth. In 2022, the group successfully asked a judge to temporarily block Gov. Greg Abbott’s order to investigate families who have transgender children receiving gender-affirming care or treatment for gender dysphoria. That order also stemmed from Mr. Paxton, who has claimed that gender-affirming care for transgender children is “child abuse.” The outcome of that lawsuit is also pending.

Medical professionals have debated which children should be receiving gender-affirming treatments and at what age. But leading medical groups in the United States, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, say such care should be available to minors and oppose legislative bans.

PFLAG also challenged the state’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors after it was signed into law. That case over the constitutionality of the law is still ongoing, but the state’s Supreme Court in September allowed the ban to take effect in the meantime.

Several lawsuits have been lodged in other states to challenge their gender-affirming care bans. In November, plaintiffs in the case against Tennessee’s law petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in. The court has not yet decided on whether to hear the case.

J. David Goodman and Amy Harmon contributed reporting.

Good morning. On Sunday, I like a project in the kitchen more than on any other day. It’s a chance to work at the stove without the need to get something on the table in 45 minutes, a time to stretch my skill set. Mostly, it’s an opportunity to explore recipes rather than simply following them. On Sundays I don’t want to fly by wire. I want to fly.

Maybe that’s you, too? Vivian Chan’s new recipe for bibimbap (above) suits beautifully. The dish traces its history to the last dynastic kingdom of Korea, the Josean, which lasted 500 years. It’s a showstopper of a meal with loads of components: a flavorful mixture of rice topped with bulgogi, shiitake mushrooms, bean sprouts, spinach, carrots and cucumbers, drizzled with a spicy gochujang sauce. It’s served as an array on a heated pan, then brought together at the table — in Korean, bibim translates as “mix” and bap as “rice” — with kimchi on the side.

Featured Recipe

Bibimbap

View Recipe →

Take a few hours to get that together and you’ll not only remember the eating fondly but the work that went into it, too: kitchen craft as soulcraft.

With Sunday sorted, we can turn to the rest of the week. …

Monday

Julia Moskin adapted this recipe for a spiced chickpea salad with tahini and pita chips from one Hetty Lui McKinnon developed years ago. It brings all the flavors of a great falafel sandwich — tahini, mint, paprika, cucumber, cumin and garlic — into a meal that delivers crunch and softness in equal measure. I follow Julia’s lead and serve it over salad greens instead of cooked ones.

Tuesday

Here’s my recipe for lobster bisque, which I learned one million years ago from the executive chef of the Carlyle Hotel in New York. You can make it with shrimp instead. On a weeknight, I generally do — it’s easier, cheaper and takes much less time.

Wednesday

Melissa Clark’s latest is a blue-ribbon winter salad of warm bacon and brussels sprouts with fried eggs. Bacon and brussels are, of course, a famous duet. But the addition of runny fried eggs makes their music even more beautiful.

Thursday

I love Kay Chun’s recipe for meatloaf for many reasons but principally because it recalls a backhanded compliment I once overheard: “You’re basic but you own it.” In a meatloaf, that’s exactly what you’re looking for. Sear leftover slices for a superior luncheon sandwich.

Friday

And then you can head into the weekend secure in the knowledge that you don’t always need a recipe to put a delicious meal on the table. Sometimes all that’s required is someone bossy (that’s me!) to tell you roughly how to make a dish — in this case a speedy fish chowder — and you can figure out the exact right way to make it for yourself. I believe in you!

There are many thousands more recipes waiting for you on New York Times Cooking, and you need a subscription to read them. Subscriptions make this whole show possible. If you haven’t taken one out yet, would you consider doing so today? Thank you.

Write for help if you find yourself at odds with our technology. We’re at cookingcare@nytimes.com and someone will get back to you. Or you can write to me if you’d like to say hello: foodeditor@nytimes.com. I can’t respond to every letter. But I read every one I get.

Now, it’s a far cry from anything to do with crêpes Suzette or fancy granola, but Stanley Kubrick’s 1956 thriller “The Killing” is playing on Amazon Prime (and plenty other platforms, too) and it’s absolutely worth watching. Kubrick wrote the screenplay with the noir novelist Jim Thompson, and Sterling Hayden plays the lead — a hardened criminal planning one last heist before his marriage. You can imagine how that goes.

There’s an excerpt from Sloane Crosley’s new memoir, “Grief Is for People,” in New York Magazine this week. It’s about a burglary — and what really went missing. And Dean Browne has a new poem in The New York Review of Books, about basil, “Party After The The.” Read them both.

Finally, the bluegrass musician Doc Watson would have turned 101 today (he died in 2012). Here’s his “Shady Grove” for you. I’m bound to go away. See you next week.

CVS Health, the nation’s largest pharmacy chain with more than 9,000 locations, has been fined more than $1.5 million by Ohio regulators over problems connected to understaffing and patient safety, officials said.

The fines are part of a settlement of 27 cases involving various safety concerns that were uncovered during a series of inspections of 22 pharmacies between 2020 and 2023, the State of Ohio Board of Pharmacy said in a statement on Thursday.

The board said that it found, among other things, improper drug security, errors dispensing drugs, prescription delays, lack of general cleanliness, understaffing and failure to report losses of controlled substances.

The settlement comes as pharmacies nationwide have been plagued by labor issues. In November, some pharmacy workers called in sick or walked off the job to call attention to what they say is inadequate staffing and growing work demands.

The Ohio board levied a $1.25 million penalty against CVS. Over the next three years, the company will also pay approximately $250,000 to cover the costs “of enhanced monitoring” by the board.

In addition, eight stores will be placed on probation for three years, the board said.

In a store in Toledo, Ohio, inspectors last year found drug shelves were dusty and cluttered and that pharmacy counters were dirty, according to state records. At the same outlet, inspectors reported finding unlabeled amber vials containing medication.

At that store, the report also cited, among other things, a complaint about an error about a brand versus generic prescription being dispensed and a complaint about medication being given to the wrong patient.

CVS will appoint an Ohio compliance liaison, who will be a licensed Ohio pharmacist, to communicate between the company and the board about compliance with state and federal pharmacy regulations.

“By entering into this settlement agreement, the board seeks immediate and systemic changes to protect patients and address critical understaffing,” Steven W. Schierholt, director of the Ohio Board of Pharmacy, said in the statement.

“We believe that this agreement is an acknowledgment by CVS that considerable changes are warranted to ensure the safe practice of pharmacy at their retail stores,” he added.

CVS Health has about 350 locations in Ohio and more than 9,000 retail locations nationwide, according to the board and the company.

In 2020, CVS Health was fined $125,000 by state regulators in Oklahoma for conditions found at four of its pharmacies, including inadequate staffing and errors made in filling prescriptions.

In a statement on Sunday, a CVS Health spokeswoman, Amy Thibault, said that the company is “pleased to have reached an agreement with the Ohio Board of Pharmacy regarding years-old allegations involving some of our Ohio pharmacies.”

She added, “We look forward to working with the board on these matters moving forward, including enhancing our positive identification systems, and continuing to provide safe, high-quality pharmacy care to our patients.”

In addition to the settlement, the pharmacy board said that it recently filed a set of rules with the State Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review to strengthen regulations on working conditions in pharmacies.

The rules, most of which CVS has voluntarily agreed to comply with, include requirements for pharmacies to develop a process to address staffing concerns and provide mandatory rest breaks for pharmacy staff members.